Elections in democracies are supposed to be free and fair but it is blatantly unfair becaiuse in this country when a government is in power it is in a position to use the resources of the state to its advantage but the Opposition cannot to do likewise.
This country is now awash with ribbon cutting and shovel digging and the mass concentration of such politicking just a few days before the polls has only one objective: the immediacy of impact letting the electorate not forget how performance driven it is in serving the needs of the people. But to the impartial observer and critical thinker this is dissembling at its best, for this frenzied rush to get infrastructural and other works going at election time, ably abetted by government media, should have been a systematic effort throughout its tenure to monitor such needs and fulfil them from time to time.
But such a call for continuing rational and sustainable national development suggests a naivete so out of sync with the accustomed dishonesty of government in “pulling wool” over the electorate’s eye at every turn , as is evident in the number of projects seemingly on stream but with little hope of completion by August 10.
The latter seems to carry the obscene presumption that the election is already won and that the completion of those projects can be taken for granted.
Can the San Fernando Waterfront project, for example, meet the election deadline and can the much touted Agro processing facility in Moruga be available for farmers in the near future? And not only in relation to infrastructure.
Can the mere signing of the Petrotrin refinery agreement bear fruit soon enough or is it merely a ploy with a similar objective to “pull wool’ over the eyes of an over expectant electorate?
But here I go again in this continuing , but sadly misplaced , attempt at an intellectual processing of political behavior in this country when the pattern in our race based electorate is as predictable as the sun rising tomorrow.
In countries such as ours where the races are equally divided as in Guyana, there is no rational evaluation of the honesty or dishonesty of politicians , no rational analysis of issues, no performance appraisal of those elected to serve by the electorate, only blind loyalty to leaders for a “mess of pottage” who in turn exploit this unquestioning support to the fullest. And you would think that the not so simple minded would not succumb to the debilitating mantra of “you scratch my back and I yours”.
This tribal affiliation runs deep on both sides of the divide, especially at this level, for here is where the awareness of what tribal support can bring , not merely a “mess of pottage”, but the plums of high office.
So the bell can ring and the tribes can jump high and low but there is an eerie predictability of where all this would go, based on the demographics, that makes all the excitement rather boring for those with the insight. Still , with the homogeneity of Tobago, you can never tell what the outcome will be there, but a victory for Duke can make things very interesting.
Dr Errol N Benjamin
via email